Purveyors of Foie Gras as Victims

Posted by Carter Dillard, ALDF's Director of Litigation on May 16, 2012

You know you’ve crossed into the Twilight Zone when celebrity chefs who promote the sale of foie gras, a “delicacy” consisting of the intentionally enlarged livers of force-fed ducks, claim to be victims. On Thursday Mark Pastore did just that, whining about being the victim of “violent rhetoric” coming from the people that want to ban the production and sale of foie gras as cruel, people like John Burton, chairman of the California Democratic Party. Anthony Bourdain also felt victimized, but added the suggestion that “every time a chef is threatened, someone should skin a panda.”

When Pastore and others act like the victims, while actively promoting the force-feeding of helpless animals to induce a painful and debilitating liver disease — all so that the livers taste better — you know you are entering some sort of alternative universe where nothing makes sense.

In that universe the people promoting the torture of animals to make them taste better are the real victims. In that universe the animals (hundreds of thousands force-fed and killed each year to make foie gras) and the people that wish to protect those animals are the bullies. In that universe the abuse of defenseless animals has nothing to do with violence; instead, anyone calling out the abusers for their indecency and inhumanity are the aggressors.

Wake up, Mark, and join the rest of us in reality.

You and your ilk are the aggressors, sick enough to mutilate an animal’s vital organs while the animal is still alive, just to improve its taste. You are no better than animal abusers in other parts of the world who beat dogs before killing them, because they believe it makes the dog meat taste better. And you are the only ones engaging in violence. California is moving forward to a less barbaric place where we won’t tolerate that, with or without you. If not being able to serve the product of a tortured animal makes you feel like a victim you might instead try to empathize with the animals whose abuse you’ve encouraged, the real victims. Justice will never be served for those animals – and for that you should be thankful.

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